Guidelines for Dealing With Desolation and Consolation
(Week I)
The norms in this first section are more appropriate to the kind of spiritual experiences associated with the First Week of the Exercises.
Four guidelines dealing with spiritual desolation now follow:
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[318] 5. When we find ourselves weighed down by a certain desolation, we should not try to change a previous decision or to come to a new decision. the reason is that in desolation the evil spirit is making an attempt to obstruct the good direction of our life or to change it, and so we would be thwarted from the gentle lead of God, and what is more conducive to our own salvation. As a result, at a time of desolation, we hold fast to the decision which guided us during the time before the desolation came on us.
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[319] 6. Although we should not try to make new decisions at a tome of desolation, we should not just sit back and do nothing. We are meant to fight off whatever is making us less that we should be. And so we might try to intensify our prayer, we might take on some penance, or we might make a closer examination of our selves and our life of faith.
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[320] 7. Oftentimes in desolation, we feel that God has left us to fend for ourselves. By faith we know that he is always with us in the strength and power of his grace, but at the time of apparent abandonment we are little aware of his care and concern. We experience neither the support nor the sweetness of his love, and our own response lacks fervor and intensity. It is as if we are living a skeletal life of the bare bones of faith.
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[321] 8. The important attitude to nourish at a time of desolation is patience. Patience can mitigate the frustration, dryness, or emptiness of the desolation period and so allow us to live through it a little less painfully. We should try to recall that everything has its time, and consolation has been ours in the past and will be God's gift in the future. Patience should mark even the efforts we undertake to work against the desolation which afflicts us.
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[322] 9. Three important reasons why we suffer desolation are:
(1) It is our own fault because we have not lived our life of faith with any effort. We have become tepid and slothful and our vary shallowness in the spiritual life has brought about the experience of desolation;
(2) it is a trial period allowed by God. We find ourselves tested as to whether we love God or just love his gifts, whether we continue to follow his call in darkness and dryness as well as in light and consolation;
(3) it is a time when God lets us experience our own poverty and need. We see more clearly that the free gift of consolation is not something we can control, buy, or make our own.
Next follow two guidelines for dealing with spiritual consolation:
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[323] 10. When we are enjoying a consolation period, we should use foresight and savor the strength of such a period against the time when we may no longer find ourselves in consolation.
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[324] 11. A time of consolation should provide the opportunity for a growth in true humility. We can acknowledge with gratitude the gifts we have received and recognize the full gratuity of God's favor. It may be well to take stock how poorly we fare when such consolation is withdrawn.
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On the other hand, if we are afflicted by desolation, we should take some consolation in knowing that God's grace is always sufficient to follow the way of the lord.
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Through three images we can understand better the ways in which the evil spirit works.
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[325] 12. the evil spirit often behaves like a spoiled child. If a person is firm with such a child, the child gives up his petulant ways. But if a person shows indulgence or weakness in any way, the child is merciless in getting his own way by stomping his feet or by false displays of affection. So our tactics must include firmness in dealing with the evil spirit in our lives.
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[326[ 13. The evil spirit's behavior can also be compared to a false lover. The false lover uses other people for his own selfish ends, and so he sues people like objects at is disposal or as his playthings for entertainments and good times. He usually suggest that the so-called intimacy of the relationship be kept secret because he is afraid that his duplicity will become known. So the evil spirit often acts in order to keep his own suggestions and temptations secret, and our tactics must be to bring out into the light of day such suggestions and temptations to our confessor or director or superior.
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[327] 14. The evil spirit can also work like a shrewd army commander, who carefully maps out the tactics of attack at weak points of the defense. He knows that weakness is found in two ways: (a) the weakness of fragility or unpreparedness, and (b) the weakness of complacent strength which is pride. The evil spirit's attacks come against us at both of these points of weakness. the first kind of weakness is less serious in that we more readily acknowledge our need and cry out for help to the Lord. The second kind is far more serous and more devastating in its effect upon us so that it is a more favored tactic of the evil spirit.
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